


Hunger

by 18lzytwner



Series: Law & Order SVU Third Series [1]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2019-07-07 22:09:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 22,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15917256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/18lzytwner/pseuds/18lzytwner
Summary: A serial rapist is terrorizing Manhattan and Elliot and Olivia are on the case but will their personal feelings get in the way or will they be able to push them aside long enough to protect the public? Season 8 throwback.





	1. Chapter 1

"I signed the divorce papers," Elliot said. Olivia practically spit out her cup of coffee all over her desk. The two partners were alone in the squad room, another late night of filling out their fives.

"Oh," she managed after swallowing the hot liquid. She could feel it burn all the way down her throat.

"I don't want it to end up like our last case. I love my kids too much for that," he admitted. Their last case had been brutal. The Sennet's were in the middle of an ugly divorce and the conflict rose to levels they never thought possible leaving Valerie dead and Miles in jail with their daughter Tessa now at the mercy of Children's Services.

"You and Kathy may no longer see things eye to eye but I can't imagine her going that far," Olivia tried to reassure him. She quickly switched topics.

"So where are you going to be living?"

"I'm still in that little place I got when we first separated," Elliot made no elaboration. Olivia only nodded, not sure what else to say. She felt awful as the shock of his announcement had now worn off and it was replaced by that inner voice who was incredibly excited that Elliot was now back on the market. Shaking her head, she tried to focus on her paperwork. Looking at the clock, it was now past midnight. It looked like she'd be showering and changing in the cribs again before her new shift started at seven.

"I can't focus," Elliot kept blinking. His partner was about to say something when her phone rang. She picked it up without looking. No one called her at this hour except for her partner or her Captain.

"Benson,"

"We caught a case. Did you and Elliot ever leave?" It was Captain Cragen. Elliot got up and headed for the locker room.

"No, we're still here. What's the address?" Olivia wanted to know.

"It's not far from Times Square," Cragen explained and then quickly gave her the remainder of the details. She told him that they were on their way. When she got off the phone, Elliot was coming back in and he grabbed her coat and his. It was another cold night as they worked their way toward spring.

"What have we got?" He asked.

"Victim was assaulted and then killed near Times Square. One PP is going to have their panties in a bunch seeing as it's near a big tourist attraction," Olivia said.

"Oh joy," Elliot frowned as they made their way to the elevator.

"Munch and Fin are meeting us there. The Captain is bringing the brass up to speed," she told him.

"Good. Hopefully we can wrap up enough of the story before the press catches wind of it," he said.

"Oh somehow I doubt that," Olivia heaved a sigh as her phone rang again. This time it was Munch saying he was picking up Fin and they'd be there in twenty minutes. She thanked him as she and Elliot got off the elevator and headed for their standard issue sedan. Once inside, Elliot punched it into gear and got the lights and sirens going.


	2. Chapter 2

"So you're telling me that we're only a block and a half from Times Square and no one heard or saw anything?" Elliot asked, shaking his head.

"It's freaking freezing out here. People probably have their butts in bed like my boney ass should be," Munch said.

"It had to be like ninety-five in the car," Fin chuckled. Olivia smirked, she couldn't help herself. Munch had originally been from Baltimore and while they did get cold weather, it was certainly colder up in New York on a regular basis.

"Time of death isn't going to be easy. She's been out here laying on the snow with practically no clothes on," Melinda spoke up, directing their attention back to the body lying on the ground in the alleyway.

"You think she was a pro?" Fin asked.

"It's hard to say because of all the damage done to her. She tried to fight back but I'd say our guy probably had at least fifty pounds on her. Every single finger is broken," the coroner shook her head.

"She only weighs a hundred pounds soaking wet and she's only five-five," Munch pointed out.

"I'll get her back to the lab and get working," Melinda nodded.

"So I'm a pro. I'm wandering Times Square, wearing only enough to cover what my momma gave me, and instead of going back to a hotel or even a car, I decide that me and my John are going to do it right here in the alley?" Fin wondered.

"Something definitely doesn't seem right about that," Olivia said as she moved deeper into the alley. It dead ended between two businesses that had closed around ten pm.

"She couldn't have been here too long. Both businesses close at ten and if she was getting the crap beat out of her, she'd have been screaming bloody murder," she pointed out, noting that the only visible footprints were from the businesses to the dumpster. Some of the snow was just tramped down too much to get anything viable for comparison.

"It's only one-thirty now," Munch said.

"Ok so we're looking at a window between say ten-thirty and when the body was found by patrol at quarter to one," Elliot told them.

"A two hour window and no one sees someone covered in blood. Doesn't hear our victim screaming? I'll get CSU to check those dumpsters," Fin motioned for one of the techs to come over.

"Our guy had to have an out. A car, keys to a nearby building, something," Olivia frowned.

"We'll have to see if the cameras back at the Square caught anything. We'll need bus and subway camera footage too," Elliot agreed.

"So back to the precinct?" Munch was hopping up and down by now, trying to keep warm. The mercury had dipped below freezing and everyone was beginning to feel it.

"You and Fin get waking people up for footage. We'll speak to the officers who found her," Olivia nodded. With that the older detective and his partner headed to their vehicle. Elliot waved to the two officers who had secured the crime scene and they nodded as the partners headed to them.

"So what made you guys stop?" Elliot asked Officers Henshaw and Yen.

"Well we usually patrol this neighborhood and with everything quite usually by this hour, when we got a call from dispatch claiming that someone had heard an awful racket. Now it's near Times Square and hardly anybody lives down here so we thought maybe someone was trying to set us up. We put on the lights and did a slow roll down through to see if anything seemed off," Henshaw started.

"What'd you do then?" Olivia wanted to know.

"We called dispatch, figuring that the call had to have been bogus but they gave us the address of Mr. El-Amin's falafel place. Not sure if it was someone trying to cause the poor guy trouble, we called for backup. While we waited we decided to make a quick check of the alley because the dumpster caught fire a few weeks back. That's when we found her," Yen explained.

"Seems like this case has more to it than we originally thought," Elliot frowned.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning Munch and Fin were still reviewing the video footage when Olivia exited the locker room fresh from the shower. Though she'd basically only had a four hour nap, the shower had felt good. Reaching her desk, she realized there was a fresh cup of coffee sitting there. Looking over to Elliot he smiled. She smiled back and carefully took a sip.

"Got the file on the dumpster fire. Turns out it was a little more complicated than someone lighting trash on fire," he said as he handed it over to her. Inside she found photos that showed someone had spray painted ethnic slurs on the Middle-Eastern man's exterior restaurant walls.

"Kids being stupid or a racist group trying to start something?" Olivia asked.

"Officers Henshaw and Yen seem to be trying to help the poor guy out but they have a whole area to patrol and they aren't on shift twenty-four hours a day," Elliot pointed out.

"Yeah the report says that the tagging must have happened during the day and the dumpster fire was set later. The FDNY got it out quickly but there was still some damage to the building and Mr. El-Amin had to close up for a few days while repairs were being done. This seems to be something that the detectives at our own precinct should be handling," his partner said.

"Correct. I've got an e-mail in to Detective Ron Summers. He should be in soon," Elliot nodded.

"Ok. Melinda have anything?" Olivia wanted to know.

"The body had to thaw out before she could cut into it. She promised she'd let us know as soon as she could," he explained.

"Thaw out? She wasn't out there that long," she raised an eyebrow.

"Apparently, Melinda thinks that this woman was exposed to the elements long before she was killed in them. Once she got her shoes off our victim had frost bitten toes and ligature marks around her ankles," Elliot said. Olivia frowned and was about to suggest something when Fin and Munch came out of the interrogation room and into the squad room.

"We got something," Fin said, holding up a tape.

"Just after ten we have a green car that goes through Times Square and then about forty-five minutes later it goes back the way it had come," Munch told them.

"Well this is New York City. People have to come and go," Elliot said, not seeing the importance.

"This same car got picked up twice by an ATM camera. First time was at ten-ten pm and then again at about ten-thirty-five pm, not far from the Square. Thing is at ten-ten pm, there are two people in the car and at ten-thirty-five, there is only one," Fin clarified.

"So someone got out of the car into an area where really no one lives, in the middle of winter, in the middle of night?" Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah exactly. We're taking it to TARU to see if they can clean up the footage. Maybe we can get a license plate or at least a make and model," Munch said. Elliot's phone rang and he quickly answered it.

"Best lead we have so far. Run with it. Have you guys heard from the Captain?" Olivia wanted to know.

"Not yet but he's probably dealing with the brass," Fin shook his head. She nodded and watched them leave the squad room on their way to the technical team. Elliot was still on the phone and she turned her thoughts back to the file that he partner had handed her. Somehow the pieces fit but they were still jumbled at the moment.

"Where are Munch and Fin?" Captain Cragen asked without saying hello as he walked into the squad room.

"They just headed to TARU," she said.

"We've got another victim. She's barely alive but I need someone to head to the hospital," the Captain told her.

"We're on it," Olivia nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

"We're here for the victim that just came in," Elliot said to the nurse behind the desk, flashing his badge.

"You're too late. We called the coroner's office about five minutes ago," she told them.

"What happened to her?" Olivia asked.

"Massive heart failure. When she was brought in it was easy to tell someone had beaten the crap out of her," the nurse explained.

"Signs of rape?" Elliot wanted to know.

"There was a lot of blood and bruising all over her body. The coroner will have to give you more on that one," the medical woman shook her head.

"Where are her personal belongings?" Olivia inquired. The nurse reached down behind the desk and pulled out a bag containing a few items.

"Figured someone would need these," she gave a tight smile.

"Thank you," Olivia said. Elliot asked for directions to the room where they were keeping the body and the nurse quickly gave them to him. The two partners made their way down the hall where they bumped into none other than Kathy.

"Elliot, Olivia," she regarded them carefully.

"On a case. Tell the kids that I'll see them Saturday," Elliot told her and then he moved on. Olivia didn't know what to say and gave Kathy a slight smile before running to catch up to her partner. She could feel Kathy's eyes burning a hole in her back before she rounded the corner. Wanting to ask Elliot what that was all about, she put a hand on his shoulder but the question went out of her head as she saw the color of the skin on the security guard outside the room where the victim was. He looked green as if he were going to throw up. She handed him her badge as Elliot was explaining who they were.

"It's bad. I hope you catch the bastard," he said. Elliot just nodded and headed into the room. Olivia steeled herself and followed.

"Her toes are frostbitten," Olivia noticed the black skin the first thing as they were sticking out of the cloth that covered their victim.

"This is our guy," Elliot heaved a sigh as he placed the cloth back down. The upper part was soaked in blood.

"Her face is a jigsaw puzzle," he said. Olivia swallowed hard and then grabbed some gloves out of her pocket. Putting them on, she reached into the bag that the nurse had handed them.

"No wallet or ID. Skimpy blood-soaked clothes like the first victim. No shoes," she told him. The door opened and in walked two men in lab coats. One was pushing a cart with a body bag and the other was following.

"You guys are the detectives?" The one pushing the cart asked.

"Yes and you are?" Elliot wanted to know.

"I'm Sam and this is Josh. We transport bodies to our morgue for holding. Doctor Warner called and said to put her on ice. She'll be here in ten minutes," the young man explained.

"Excellent. We'll follow you," Elliot said. Sam nodded and quickly motioned to Josh and the two expertly moved the body off the table and into the bag. Then they headed out of the room and Olivia and Elliot followed them. Olivia quickly called the Captain to let him know of the situation. He told them to get back as soon as they could. They needed to nail down as much as they could before their killer struck again. The brass wanted to keep as much about the case quiet as they could but if they had to go to the media, they would. The last thing they needed was the media all over them so Olivia promised they'd be back as quickly as possible.

"This guy is on a roll isn't he?" Melinda asked as she watched them load the body into her van shortly after she'd arrived and signed the paperwork.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Olivia sighed.


	5. Chapter 5

"So what have we got?" Captain Cragen asked as the entire team was back at the precinct. The evidence was laid out on the computer screen and the four detectives were trying to piece together what they had.

"TARU is still working on the video. It's not the best quality," Fin shook his head.

"Neither girl had any ID on them, hardly any clothes, and no shoes," Olivia said.

"Not to mention both of them had frostbite," Elliot chimed in.

"Where does your dumpster fire fit in?" Munch wondered.

"Spoke to Detective Ron Summers. He doesn't have any solid leads for the slurs on Mr. El-Amin's walls or the fire that started in the dumpster. He ran down the usual suspects and juvenile delinquents and basically nobody saw nothing," Stabler explained.

"I think we have to look at that as something that had nothing to do with the case. Our killer is meticulous. He has a routine. Dump a body in the same alley he tagged the wall and started the dumpster fire? Doesn't seem to fit," Olivia frowned.

"I would agree. I mean you don't from tagging and arson to murder," Fin nodded.

"What does Melinda have?" Cragen wanted to know.

"She's still running tests. This guy doesn't leave much behind," Munch said.

"Maybe we can narrow down his zone," Olivia suggested.

"Our first vic was found around Times Square. The second was found outside our jurisdiction. The eighteenth precinct called us because of the victim the night before," Fin told them.

"Heading for Columbus Circle? The dump sites seem completely random. Not only that, our first victim was dumped late at night and the second one was practically six or seven hours later," Elliot raised an eyebrow.

"Dumping his stash?" Munch postulated.

"Would make sense. Melinda said the first victim was more frozen than she would have been if she'd just been murdered outside," Fin said.

"Plus we know that there was a call to the cops regarding a racket. The second one was found without a phone call. Some poor guy tripped over her when he went to get rid of his trash," Olivia nodded.

"So this guy likes cold bodies and trash," Munch scrunched up.

"Budding necrophiliac?" Elliot asked.

"He must have a big freezer then. How many places could support something like that given our radius with the car in the video?" Cragen wanted to know.

"I'm guessing we're about to find out," Fin said.

"Sooner rather than later. This guy could be out looking for his next victim. Not only that, the brass is breathing down my neck," the Captain told them.

"We'll bug Melinda," Munch said.

"We'll dig for large freezers available for plenty of alone time," Elliot said. Munch and Fin headed out of the door and the two partners got down to work.

"So what was up with Kathy earlier?" Olivia asked. It didn't seem like the right time but there was only so much talk about necrophilia that she could take.

"Long story," he didn't elaborate. She only nodded.

"I'm calling Huang. We need his opinion on this," she said.

"Good call. This guy is all over the place, some insight might be what leads us to him," Elliot told her.


	6. Chapter 6

Doctor Huang looked over the evidence on the board and frowned. The criminal they were after seemed to have a decided pattern. Yet the last day indicated that the killer was not escalating like they thought it was.

"Doesn't make sense does it?" Olivia asked.

"We don't have enough of the pieces. How many freezer places have you found?" Huang wanted to know.

"Surprisingly too many. We're trying to see if someone is using more electricity than they should be. Melinda said that there was no DNA so we have nothing there. She did say that we got matches on the victims. Both ladies were popped for prostitution a few years back. Our alley victim was Suzanne Smith and the second victim at Columbus Circle was Allison Grimes. If they weren't in the system, we wouldn't be able to identify them. He beat the living hell out of them," she said.

"He shows no preference for their looks. Suzanne was a blonde; Allison was a brunette. Suzanne was short and Allison was almost six foot. Our killer is using prostitutes because they are low risk. They go missing and no one will right away. He can stalk without anyone saying anything. Perhaps the reason we haven't heard from him is that the kills have emboldened him. As much as I hate to say it, perhaps he is out reaching for a harder target," Huang frowned.

"I hope you're wrong," Olivia shook her head.

"Have anything?" Cragen asked as he exited his office.

"Not yet. How about Munch and Fin?" Olivia asked.

"TARU got the video cleaned up enough to ID license plates. The care was not reported stolen so they're going to talk to the owner, a Mrs. Tina Scarlotti," the Captain explained.

"Ok so I'm guessing that our guy stole the license plates?" Olivia wondered.

"Could be or could be that Mrs. Scarlotti was victim zero. Munch and Fin have the local precinct backing them up," Cragen shook his head.

"Seems like it was too easy," Huang said.

"How do you figure?" Cragen gave him a look.

"Our killer is methodical. He makes a point to pick women that no one will miss. He beats them so that the only way we can identify them is by DNA; their fingers so frostbitten that printing them would basically be useless. If he's stolen a car, killing the owner is not part of his plan. It would be an opportunity to mess up and so far even his mistake about the alley killing wasn't enough to catch him. My guess is that he stole her license plates. He probably used gloves but it wouldn't hurt to fingerprint her car anyway," Huang told them. Olivia's phone rang and she picked it up. The phone call was short and she turned to the two men.

"Elliot has talked to Sister Peg and alerting the local pros. So far he doesn't have much in the way of ladies saying anything about seeing any possibilities for our suspect to show himself. He's on his way back in," she said.

"You guys waiting on something?" Melinda asked as she walked into the squad room.

"You have something?" Olivia wanted to know.

"I have something on the ligature marks. Our guy uses a bungee or something that he can wrap very tightly. The circulation gets cut off and he has them in the freezer which basically speeds up the frostbite," the coroner said.

"This guy is a sick bastard," Cragen clenched his fists. Then he got a call from Fin. They spoke for a few minutes and then he got off the line.

"You were right Doc. Mrs. Scarlotti is still kicking and her license plates are missing," he said.

"We need to pull everything we have together. This guy is out there stalking his next victim," Huang told them. It was then that Kathy Stabler walked into the squad room. Olivia swallowed hard and headed over to her.


	7. Chapter 7

Elliot Stabler walked into the squad room just in time to see his ex-wife slap his partner across the face. Captain Cragen grabbed Kathy and pulled her off his detective. Munch and Fin were not far behind Elliot and they watched as the former husband took his wife from Cragen. He didn't get a word out before Kathy tried to slap him. She didn't get far enough though as the Captain stopped her.

"We leave for five minutes…" Munch said under his breath as he and Fin moved forward to help.

"Take Mrs. Stabler into interrogation," Cragen ordered. Fin nodded and hauled the very angry woman off.

"What was that all about?" Munch asked.

"I have no idea. Kathy walked in here and I thought maybe she needed El for something about the kids but before I could say anything, she hit me," Olivia said, her cheek was starting to turn red.

"Kathy and I filed divorce papers. They've been signed. It's over," Elliot admitted to the group.

"Doesn't exactly explain why she tried to smack you and Liv," Cragen said. Elliot didn't answer and Olivia looked at him, waiting for an explanation.

"Munch, Fin, go talk to the former Mrs. Stabler and tell her that if she doesn't want to be arrested for assaulting an officer, she had better apologize to Olivia. Liv and Elliot, my office, now," the Captain ordered.

"Is there something you need to tell me?" Cragen asked after closing the office door.

"Like what?" Olivia gave him a look.

"Like your partnership taking a turn outside of the precinct?" The Captain gave her a look.

"Cap, the divorce was a long time coming. Olivia and I are just partners," Elliot said. Inwardly, Olivia cringed;  _just partners_. She'd known for years that she wanted more than being just partners. In the back of her mind, she thought that Elliot felt the same way; his actions certainly seemed to indicate it.

"Kathy doesn't seem to think so," Cragen gave him a look. Elliot let out a loud sigh. Here it was the moment of truth.

"We were trying to explain to the kids what was happening. Kathleen, Maureen, and Dickie seemed to be grasping it though they were obviously not happy. Lizzie…" he paused, unsure of how to continue, knowing what he was about to say would change everything.

"What did she say?" Olivia asked.

"She asked if Liv was going to be her new mom," Elliot said.

"That does explain why Kathy would be upset," Cragen shook his head, his eyes wide.

"Oh boy," Olivia swallowed. She could not imagine where to start with that. Though she had often acted as a friend to the kids, she had never thought as herself as someone other than that.

"Needless to say Kathleen, Maureen, and Dickie lost it. Kathy has been cold toward me and stewing ever since. My guess is that when we showed up at the hospital looking for our vic, she thought something else was going on," Elliot explained.

"Well you need to do what you need to do and clean this up. Olivia can press charges if she wants," Cragen said.

"I'm not going to Cap," Olivia shook her head.

"I figured as much. Elliot, get this under control. Until you do, you're off the case," the Captain ordered.


	8. Chapter 8

Needless to say, wrangling Kathy was not easy. Munch and Fin tried to convince her that there was nothing going on between the partners but she refused to hear it. Elliot walked into the interrogation room, incredibly hot under the collar. His boss had just benched him and he was in no mood. Munch and Fin moved out of the interrogation room but didn't go far, afraid that the two might get into a fight that was more than verbal.

"So is this what your marriages looked like?" Fin asked.

"None of them had the stones to confront me at the job," Munch shook his head watching the two bicker. Their marriage had indeed soured and there was no way back.

"Guys! We got a call! Our killer might be at it again!" Olivia shouted from the squad room. Fin pounded on the glass of the one way mirror and then the two headed out from the hallway where the interrogation rooms were located.

"What's going on?" Munch wanted to know.

"Girl abducted near Times Square. Not far from our falafel bar and first body dump," Olivia was pulling on her coat.

"A Pro?" Fin asked.

"Probably. Mr. El-Amin called it in. Said that there was a commotion out by his dumpster again and when he went out there to confront the hoodlums he found a woman being pulled into a car out at the street. He's barricaded himself inside the restaurant hoping whoever it was didn't see him," Olivia explained as she headed for the doors to the elevators. Munch and Fin were on her heels.

"Get the local precinct involved?" Fin inquired.

"They're on their way along with CSU. There is a BOLO for the car based on Mr. El-Amin's description," Olivia told them as they entered the elevators.

"Does it look like Mrs. Scarlotti's green Toyota?" Munch wondered as the elevator doors opened.

"Nope. Beige Honda with Jersey plates," she replied.

"We could have been looking at the wrong side of the river," Fin groaned as they all piled into the unmarked standard issue sedan.

"Could be. I called up TARU to see if they could get the names of freezer places over there," Olivia sighed as Munch pulled away from the curb, lights and sirens blaring.

"Well hopefully we can figure this out before this poor kid winds up like the others. How's your face?" Fin asked.

"How does it look?" Olivia asked.

"Like you were standing out in the cold too long. Good thing we're heading to a crime scene or you'd have to try and hide the red marks," he was brutally honest.

"I knew things were bad with them but I guess I didn't realize how bad," she shook her head.

"Hey, nothing you can do. We're all going to have to ride it out while Elliot works out his frustration. We just have to make sure he doesn't use our suspect's face as relief," Fin said. She nodded. They all knew that sometimes the line between interrogation and violating civil rights was thin.  
"Let's just solve this case as quickly as possible. The sooner we do that, the sooner we don't have a crazy person chasing women around Manhattan and crazy women rushing into our precinct looking for trouble," Munch said as he picked his way through traffic.

"Snowball's chance in hell," Fin chuckled and they understood what he meant. Lately it seemed that one crazy popped up after another and there was no way of stopping what felt like a rising tide.  _Along with my chances with Elliot_ , a little voice in the back of Olivia's head said.


	9. Chapter 9

They were at the crime scene for almost two hours but they had gathered all the information they could along with Mr. El-Amin. The Muslim man was terrified that he was on someone's hit list and the detectives figured it'd be the best thing to bring him in.

"I am a religious man surely you cannot think I did this," he said to Munch and Fin who had brought him into the interrogation room.

"Religious men have done plenty of terrible things in the name of their beliefs," the Jewish man told him.

"Allah knows it. We shall all be judged when we meet our maker and those that drag his name through their twisted beliefs will be very surprised," El-Amin nodded.

"I'm with you on that one. Now why do you think these weird things keep happening around your restaurant?" Munch asked.

"The only thing I can think of is my religion and my skin color. My neighbors and I get along just fine and they have been helping me through this. I have told my wife to stay home for fear that something could happen to her," he explained.

"How'd she take that decision?" Fin wanted to know.

"Well she was upset. We worked very hard to get to this country and run our restaurant but it seems somehow I got a target painted on my back and I'll not have her get in harm's way; especially after the dumpster fire. What if this kidnapper saw me? What am I to do? What about my wife?" El-Amin's fear seemed genuine.

"First, how do we know that it wasn't you who kidnapped that girl?" Fin narrowed his eyes at him.

"I installed security cameras after that poor woman was found in the alley. The video proves I didn't do it!" El-Amin pointed out.

"You could have paid someone to lead suspicion off of you. You know I can smell a conspiracy a mile away," Munch said.

"No offense but the guy you're looking for doesn't exactly fit into my friend list," the Middle-Eastern man told them.

"Got something against white guys?" Fin gave him a look.

"White guys? I told you the guy in the beige Honda with Jersey plates and it was a Hispanic guy," El-Amin cocked an eyebrow.

"You just said the magic words," Olivia said as she walked into the interrogation room.

"Pardon?" Their witness was confused.

"The crime scene guys confirmed that you installed those cameras and they have the tape of a dark-skinned man pulling a woman into a beige Honda with Jersey plates," she explained.

"You see I wasn't lying to you!" El-Amin was relieved. Just then Captain Cragen entered the room and Olivia left heading back out into the squad room. Despite all the excitement, Elliot was still nowhere to be seen. Olivia frowned, knowing that he hadn't left since his jacket was on the back of the chair behind his desk.

"Briscoe, have you seen Stabler?" She asked of the younger detective.

"Cribs last time I checked," he smiled at her. Olivia nodded and headed over to the bunkroom. She knocked but when she got no response she entered.

"El, there you are," she said. Her partner was sitting on one of the beds, his head in his hands.

"She's threatening to fight for custody of the kids. Say that I lied in the original divorce papers and take me to court," he said without looking up at her.

"What?" Olivia sank down next to him.

"This is turning into the ugly thing that I didn't want," he pulled his hands away from his face and heaved a sigh. Olivia could tell that he was in one of those moods where his emotions didn't meet with the tough exterior façade of a former Marine and police detective. While Elliot Stabler had anger issues, the rest of his emotions often never worked their way to the surface.

"Look we'll do whatever it takes for you to fight this. She can't win on suspicion that we're in a relationship, especially since we aren't," Olivia said. Elliot turned to look at her but she couldn't place the look on his face.

"What?" She asked confused.

"We?" He asked.

"I'm your partner. I'm here for you. Now get your rear in gear mister. We have a case to solve," with that she leaned in kissed him on the temple and headed out of the cribs.  _What were you thinking?_ She shook her head and headed for the coffee pot, hoping that she hadn't just made a big mistake.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning a couple walked into the squad room and approached Munch. He quickly directed them to the Captain's office and Olivia gave him a questioning look as he waved for her to follow. Knowing that he probably had a hunch about something, she quickly left her desk and entered the Captain's office.

"Our daughter has gone missing and we were told to speak to the Special Victims Unit," the woman was obviously very shaken up as she took a seat across from the Captain's desk. She was in her late forties, early fifties with short brown hair that was slightly greying. The woman stood almost a foot shorter than her male companion who had to be closing in on sixty. The man seemed to be ready to blow his cork, an odd trait for someone looking to report a missing daughter, and the Captain wondered if they were going to have a problem.

"What are your names and her name?" Cragen asked.

"Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson. Our daughter's name is Elizabeth Stevenson. She's twenty-five. She didn't come home last night and she won't answer her cellphone," Mrs. Stevenson pulled a picture out of her purse and handed it to the Captain. He looked at the picture and then handed it to Munch. The elder detective shared it with Olivia and the two detectives shared a look.

"I hate to bring you bad news but your daughter fits the description of a woman taken from an area near Times Square last night. Was she supposed to be meeting people or out on a date?" Cragen asked. Mrs. Stevenson began to cry.

"We had an argument and she stormed off!" Mr. Stevenson was close to blowing his top and from outside the office Elliot and Fin who had just arrived moved toward the door.

"What was she wearing?" Cragen ignored the outburst, immediately seeing how being at home with this man could be an issue.

"Only her pajamas and a pair of sneakers. It's a fleece set that is dark blue and has clouds on them. It's one of her favorites from childhood," Mrs. Stevenson smiled slightly as she tried to get her tears under control. Olivia was glad that TARU was enhancing the video from Mr. El-Amin's shop.

"Ok give your information to Detective Munch and we'll make sure we let you know how the investigation is going. We've got our best people on it," the Captain assured them. Olivia helped Mrs. Stevenson out of the chair and offered to take her to the ladies room and get her a drink. Cragen knew what she was trying to do and he was glad.

"Mr. Stevenson we have some additional questions that we need to ask you since you were having an argument with your daughter," the Captain tried to be delicate as he watched Olivia and Mrs. Stevenson disappear around the corner of the squad room towards the ladies room. Elliot and Fin had taken this opportunity to enter the Captain's office.

"We fought, so what?" He asked.

"If you could just follow Detectives Munch and Tutuola down the hall, we'll get this over with as quickly as possible," Cragen smiled slightly. The man gave him a look but obliged. Elliot hung back and once Stevenson was out of earshot, the Captain turned to him.

"He could be an abuser. He comes in here all steamed up. I tell him his daughter has been kidnapped and instead of his anger dissipating it continues," Cragen frowned.

"You think he's in on it?" Elliot asked.

"Highly unlikely. Our guy is a loner. Married with adult children would be too much to handle," Dr. Huang appeared in the office doorway. He'd snuck in while everyone else was focused on the people in the Captain's office.

"Ok. You have a better idea?" Elliot gave him a look.

"Oh indeed I do but first I need to watch the man you have in interrogation. He is most definitely not your average concerned parent. He may know who the person is that we are looking for," Huang said before turning and leaving. Cragen and Elliot exchanged looks before following him.


	11. Chapter 11

"Mr. Stevenson, you seem awfully angry for someone who was just told his daughter might have been kidnapped," Munch started.

"What were you guys fighting about anyway?" Tutuola wanted to know.

"She's just doing this for attention. She thinks because no one at school believes her when she spews her lies that the cops will believe her," Stevenson said.

"Troubles at school huh? A little odd for a twenty-five year old. What school are we talking about?" Munch asked.

"I spent all that money to send her to get her PHD at NYU and all I get is whining about her professor. They're about ready to flunk her out!" Stevenson was boiling.

"He's an idiot," Stabler said as he stood in between Captain Cragen and Doctor Huang on the other side of the one-way glass.

"Yes he is. They don't just let anyone into the PHD programs at NYU. I'll get Briscoe chasing down the professor and any allegations that have been made," Cragen rushed out into the squad room where he practically tripped over Olivia, who had left Mrs. Stevenson at her desk.

"Cheryl was just telling me how easily her husband gets angry," she told him.

"Get with Briscoe. It's possible Elizabeth's professor was abusing her at NYU," he said. Olivia clenched her fists.

"You think that's why she got kidnapped?" Olivia asked.

"It's quite possible that our kidnapper has a partner. How else would he pull a woman into his car by himself? Get on TARU to finish cleaning up that video and see where they are with those electric bills. Also check with Mrs. Stevenson. Maybe she believed her daughter but was too afraid of her husband," Cragen told her. She nodded and quickly headed to Mrs. Stevenson. Cragen headed back to Elliot and Huang.

"He's a narcissist and quite possibly bi-polar," Huang was telling Elliot.

"How does this help find our kidnapper?" The detective asked.

"Elizabeth will try to distance herself from men like that. My guess is that he can be violent when he's in one of his moods. His inability to express emotions properly would certainly suggest it. More of a bottle it up type and then spew over something small like the kids knocked over her milk at dinner," Huang filled in.

"Ok so her professor would be the opposite but do you think he'd be helping our sicko?" Cragen asked.

"Grooming him perhaps, but I still feel like this is the work of just one person," the doctor admitted.

"Well how did our perp haul our victim into the car by himself and drive?" Elliot wanted to know.

"He has the ability to trick women into thinking he's normal. Why else would the first two girls leave with him? Even a prostitute will turn down a John if she gets any bad vibes from him. As much as they need to make money, the will to live overrides it. After successfully kidnapping, torturing, raping, and killing two prostitutes, he moves up to someone he either has access too or he feels would be another easy target. She gets near the car because she's cold, wandering around in her fleece pajamas. He thinks runaway. He gets closer and realizes that it's a victim more in his age range and he seizes the opportunity. He's nice, maybe slightly flirtatious; tells her that he could drop her somewhere if she wanted. She's just had an argument with her less than sane father who on some level, either physically or emotionally, has abused her. She doesn't want to go home. Maybe all it takes is an offer of money for food at the local diner. The victim gets close to the car and he pulls her in through the open window," Huang laid it all out for them.

"So perhaps he's in class with our victim. He would recognize her," Cragen said.

"Quite possible. She would probably feel comfortable with him. While NYU is a big university, PHD programs certainly are not big classes," Huang nodded.

"I'll help Briscoe and Liv run down the college angle. What do we do with Bozo the Clown in there?" Elliot asked.

"See if Mrs. Stevenson would want to press charges. My guess is that his anger is going to explode sooner rather than later. I would prefer that she not be on the end of his fist after they leave here," Huang frowned. Elliot was about to head to the squad room when suddenly Tutuola picked Mr. Stevenson out of his chair by his collar; the three had been focused on the profile of their killer rather than the last few sentences of the conversation in interrogation. Cragen busted into the room before things got completely out of control.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"We're arresting Mr. Stevenson. He just admitted to us that he hit the Mrs. On more than one occasion," Munch said.

"You can't do this! I know my rights!" Stevenson tried to swing his arms. He almost managed to connect his fist with Fin's face. The detective ducked and slammed him back into the table while Munch cuffed him.

"We'll add attempted assault on a police officer too," the older detective said.

"Get him out of here," Cragen gave Stevenson a look.


	12. Chapter 12

They were up all night, trying to piece things together. TARU had managed to clean up the picture of the man in the car but Cragen hadn't wanted to release his picture to the media. Huang thought that that was a good idea seeing as the media attention probably drove him to kill his last two victims. Instead, Briscoe was running face through facial recognition software which allowed Elliot and Olivia to dig through the college angle. Fin and Munch were busy helping keep Mr. El-Amin and his wife safe until official protective custody could be transferred to the proper unit. The detectives agreed that having Mr. El-Amin open his restaurant would be a bad idea so they posted a sign on the door stating that due to more vandalism the restaurant was closed for cleaning and repairs. They also had the local precinct step up patrols so that the locals wouldn't get spooked.

"Is there any more coffee?" Olivia asked.

"Why don't you take fifteen in the cribs? We can't visit NYU until nine anyway," Elliot suggested.

"What time is it now?" His partner asked.

"Eight-thirty, never mind. We'll get coffee on our way," he said. Olivia nodded and yawned before hitting the ladies room. She tried to freshen up a little and then the two of them were out to the car and heading for the college campus.

"So the other night…" Elliot started after they picked up their coffee.

"Which night was that now? I think I'm running on about eight hours over the last two days," Olivia said.

"A nap is definitely in order but I'm talking about when Kathy…" he stopped himself, unsure of what to say next.

"We'll handle this just like everything else but we need to save Elizabeth first," Olivia pointed out.

"I know and I'm not talking about dealing with Kathy. I meant when you kissed me on the temple," the words were out in the open now.

"You seemed like you needed it and to be perfectly honest, I needed it," she said. Elliot opened his mouth to say something but they were at the college. Before he could open his mouth, Olivia had exited the vehicle.  _We'll pick this up later_ , he thought.

"What building are we going to?" She asked.

"Physics department, Professor Allen Reinig," Elliot said, coming up behind her. They worked their way through the campus and flashed their badges at a security guard who stopped them just before the building they needed to enter.

"You hear anything about Professor Reinig?" Elliot wondered.

"Like what?" The security guard asked; the name plate on his chest said West.

"Like reports of groping or inappropriate touching?" Olivia asked as they moved toward the professor's office.

"Are you sure you have the right professor?" West was very confused.

"Why?" Elliot wanted to know.

"Professor Reinig is in a wheelchair. He was paralyzed from the waist down after a skiing accident a couple of years ago," the guard explained.

"Does he have an assistant?" Olivia asked.

"Sure. Robbie Alvarez. His office is right down the hall from the professor's," West said.

"We'll need to see him too then," Elliot told him.

"You've got it," the guard nodded.


	13. Chapter 13

"So you can see why we're concerned Robbie. Elizabeth Stevenson is missing. Her behavior changed not long ago and her grades were slipping. She told her parents that her professor was causing her problems. According to the college, she did lodge complaints regarding Professor Reinig but my guess is that she didn't mean him. Kind of hard for him to be kissing her and feeling her up at the same time while she was pushed up against the wall, given his permanent sitting condition. NYU thought the same thing," Elliot slammed the college's investigation file on the table in the interrogation room.

"They called you?" Robbie stammered.

"They were about to but it seems someone wanted to get at Elizabeth before that happened. What'd you do to her?" Olivia pressed.

"I wouldn't hurt her," the suspect told them.

"Why should we believe you? You look suspiciously like the guy who pulled Elizabeth into that car and your hands look like you've been using your knuckles for something other than what they're supposed to be used for," Elliot dropped a blown up picture of the abduction.

"Now we know that that beige Honda isn't yours because it has Jersey plates and you're address is just off the NYU campus. Whose car is it? Better you tell us before the plates come back from the DMV. Once that happens then we'll be forced to charge you with three counts of murder and one count of kidnapping," Olivia pointed out.

"Murder? Kidnapping? You can't prove that. It's my aunt's car," there was a slight change in his demeanor. Outside the interrogation room, Huang smirked.

"What's so funny?" Cragen asked.

"He's our guy and he just gave himself away," the FBI agent said.

"How do you figure? I didn't hear a confession," the Captain pointed out.

"When confronted with the possible charges instead of showing fear as any innocent person would, he immediately went to a defensive strategy. Look at how he's sitting now. Even as Olivia and Elliot are pressing him, his words say he's trying to claim his innocence but his body language indicates something quite different. We're lucky you caught him," Huang said.

"Lucky? There are at least two women dead, one missing, and the owner of the beige Honda probably had something bad happen to them," Cragen raised an eyebrow.

"And if he'd perfected his routine, you wouldn't have caught him at all or he'd have been caught after many more women were dead," Huang said. That's when Munch and Tutuola walked up to them.

"We got an address off the plates on the beige Honda. The car is still missing but the Jersey cops are checking on the owner now," Munch explained. He barely got the words out of his mouth and Tutuola's phone rang. He excused himself and the Captain turned back to Elliot and Olivia who were leaving the interrogation room.

"He lawyered up," Olivia said.

"He's going to need that lawyer. Jersey cops found the owner of the beige Honda, a Michelle Han, dead in her home. They want a piece of our suspect," Tutuola told them.

"Arrest the son of a bitch. We'll let the DA sort it out," Cragen ordered. Olivia and Elliot headed back in to the interrogation room.

"Good news Robbie. The Jersey cops just found murder victim number three, Michelle Han. You're going to jail and then they're done with you, we'll get a crack," Elliot said.

"I'm guessing that Elizabeth doesn't have that kind of time," Robbie told them.


	14. Chapter 14

Of course Robbie was right. The poor girl had to be somewhere and her time was running out. At a maximum without food and water, she had three days. If he left her wherever he'd been leaving the other girls, she had considerably less time. The temperatures outside were ranging from just above freezing to just below. She could freeze to death in a matter of hours.

"What are our options? Robbie isn't going to give it up," Munch pointed out.

"He won't. He's enjoying watching us running around looking for her," Olivia shook her head.

"Where would he go? TARU hasn't found any locations of large freezers with high electric bills. They even canvassed places that only have one or two freezers running and have others that are not and nothing hit," Cragen said.

"We're missing something. This guy may be smart but there is no way he's smarter than we are," Fin gave them a look.

"Captain! Captain!" Briscoe had come running from the squad room and into his office where they had all gathered.

"What?" Cragen demanded.

"The green Toyota was found burned out not far from Michelle Han's place by the Jersey police," the younger detective said.

"No evidence but maybe that's the key," Huang frowned as he headed back out of the office and toward the large board where all the evidence had been gathered. The detectives followed him.

"What are you getting at Doc?" Elliot wanted to know.

"He steals the plates off of Mrs. Tina Scarlotti's green Toyota and puts them on another green Toyota but his does this where?" Huang asked.

"A few blocks from NYU," Munch says.

"Then he jumps across the river, burns the car, and the plates which are now useless. He attacks Michelle who probably happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. He takes the car and heads back into the city. Now he manages to stumble onto Elizabeth in his usual trawling place," Fin said.

"Happy coincidences?" Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"The Jersey police are digging into Michelle to see if she knew Robbie," Cragen said.

"She had to have known him. He calls her, tells her that his car is toast, literally. She picks him up and drives him back to her place. He does whatever he does to her and then takes the car," Elliot figured.

"So this case will technically belong to the FBI as he crossed state borders to do all of this," Huang pointed out.

"More of a manhunt, more of a thrill?" Oliva posited.

"Oh I believe so. Heading back to his trawling grounds, he finds Elizabeth, which is a happy accident," Huang said.

"He hasn't been using freezers for his weird fetish so that means he has some other way of cooling his victims to frostbite," Munch told them.

"He's leaving them in the trunk of the car," Olivia said.

"It would be cold there in no time and he could pull them out of there at any time," Fin nodded.

"But he still needs somewhere private to do what he does," Cragen shook his head.

"Private unconditioned storage!" Elliot shouted and went to his computer.

"How many places close to his apartment?" Olivia asked.

"Five," his shoulders slumped.

"Get on the phone with the owners. I'll get on the phone to Casey," Cragen said.


	15. Chapter 15

Elliot had whittled it down to two places where Robbie could have been keeping his victims. The owners had no one on their lists of renters with the name of Robbie Alvarez but once they described him they were able to get the security guards to say that they had seen men fitting that description. Regrettably the whole process took most of the night and it wasn't until the next morning when they had the two locations.

"Munch and Fin take the first storage place. ESU is going to meet you there. Olivia and Elliot take the second place. Again ESU will meet you there," Cragen announced. Everyone was juiced on coffee and energy drinks having gotten no sleep so they jumped out of their chairs and headed for the door before Olivia stopped.

"What about a warrant?" She asked.

"Casey says that we are assisting in New Jersey's attempt to catch their killer and his next possible victim who is a New York resident. The judge signed off in no time, especially since Alvarez was already in custody," Cragen explained and then ushered them out of the door. The detectives quickly split up and headed for each storage place. ESU was ready and waiting for them.

"We heard you already got your suspect. Why do you need us?" The ESU Captain Morris asked as Munch led him down to the unit that was suspected to belong to Alvarez.

"This guy is a real psycho. He could have booby-trapped the place," the older detective explained.

"Well then we had best go in cautiously," Morris nodded. They reached the door to the number storage location they had been given by the owner. Morris got his men to check the door seal and the lock for anything hinky.

"Seems clear. We're going to remove the lock with the bolt cutters," the Captain told Munch and Fin. One of the men did so and then they checked the slide bolt for the door. Once again there were no outward appearances of any booby-trap. They then carefully slid the bolt back. Nothing. The only thing left to do was to open the door. One man dressed in a full bomb suit went for the door and opened it. Nothing happened and the rest of the team rushed into the space.

"There is just this old trunk. Nothing else," Munch couldn't believe it. No car and seemingly no Elizabeth.

"Let the robot scan that before anyone opens it. Clear out!" Morris ordered. They fell back to the safety of the police vehicles and the robot went inside.

"What do we have?" Fin wanted to know as they watched it scan the trunk.

"No explosives. It's a body," Morris said. Munch and Fin swallowed hard. The bomb robot determined the trunk to be devoid of booby-traps and the detectives headed inside. Upon opening the trunk they came to a horrible realization.

"Get Melinda down here on the double and CSU. We've got another victim," Fin said.

"Is it your girl?" Morris asked.

"No. It isn't," Munch heaved a sigh. The woman in the trunk was wearing what they would typically see on a streetwalker and had been dead for a long time; the temperature outside freezing her solid, meaning that she had to have been warm to get in the trunk. Signs of decay were obvious but it had also been slowed because of the cold.

"Maybe she was victim zero," Morris said as the call went over the radio for the medical examiner.

"Could be. Let's hope Liv and Elliot are having better luck," Fin shook his head and then pulled his cellphone out of his pocket to call Cragen.

Meanwhile, ESU was attempting to figure out if the second storage unit was booby-trapped. So far they had found nothing and then quickly rolled the door up, only to find that it was hard to do. They finally managed to get it to go all the way up and Olivia and Elliot were dumbfounded at what they saw.

"He lined the walls and ceiling with some sort of sound proof material. Doesn't help keep things warm but it would prevent the screaming from being heard," ESU Lieutenant Grey explained.

"The missing car I presume?" One of the ESU officers asked before making sure they swept the room for anything that could have been a trap. The walls had shelving units on them and items that made Olivia cringe inwardly. A car battery, jumper cables, knives, handcuffs, rope, and some sort of chemicals in unmarked bottles – all hallmarks of Robbie Alvarez's killer trade.

"Matches the description," Elliot nodded.

"Things are clear. The keys are even in the ignition," another ESU officer commented. Elliot called Elizabeth's name but they got no response. Olivia moved to the trunk and ordered,

"Pop the trunk." She was hoping that they managed to find Elizabeth safely. The officer reached in and pulled the lever to pop the trunk. When the trunk opened the sound of a breaking bottle could be heard and a plume of smoke escaped. Olivia began to cough and the last thing she remembered was the sound of Elliot shouting her name.


	16. Chapter 16

Elliot sat in the courtroom clenching his fists. Kathy had made good on her promise and despite everything he tried to do, they now sat at opposite tables with their lawyers in front of a judge. The detective hadn't even known about the court date until the judge saw his name on the docket and called him regarding the issue and what attorney had he hired. It had been all over the news that SVU had caught their suspect and the Olivia had been harmed in the attempt to find Elizabeth Stevenson. So the conversation had started there and then Elliot discovered that he was due in court. He had only three days to find a lawyer and get them up to speed. Casey had suggested a colleague, Martha Lavine, and she had gladly accepted.

"Your Honor, this is a clear case of paranoia. Not only did my client not have an affair with his partner, he was only informed of the court date, three days before its occurrence. I should think opposing counsel would know better," Martha spoke to Judge Carlson.

"What of it Mr. Boles? When the filing occurred you should have notified Mr. Stabler or his counsel. You know how this works," Carlson gave the lawyer a look.

"I sent word via overnight mail to Mr. Stabler's address," Boles objected.

"Your Honor, opposing counsel knows quite well that Detective Stabler was not a home for a good portion of the last few weeks. He and his entire squad were trying to catch the serial rapist that has been splashed all over the papers and the news. Also, he knows that the most likely place to find the Detective was at the station, not his apartment. Furthermore, when my client did return to his residence, there was no notification. I submit that this was an underhanded attempt to steal custody of the children," Lavine argued.

"Mr. Boles the disciplinary committee will be hearing about this. Miss Lavine, that might be so but unless you have any proof, we'll proceed with the hearing. Mr. Boles, call your first witness," the Judge gave him a look.

"The plaintiff calls Kathy Stabler to the stand," her lawyer said. Kathy got up and walked to the stand. She was sworn in and then sat down.

"Mrs. Stabler, do you have any proof your husband was cheating on you?" He asked.

"He constantly spends time with his partner, more than he spent with me or the children. His job tends to keep him long hours but more than once I've caught the smell of perfume on his clothes that most definitely did not belong to me," she said.

"Objection. This is nothing but conjecture," Martha argued.

"Overruled. Make a connection quickly, Mr. Boles," Carlson gave him a look.

"Is there anything else that would make you suspicious?" He asked.

"I've seen the way Olivia looks at him. She's even tried to get in the children's good graces," Kathy started.

"Liv is lying in a hospital bed and you have the audacity to say that she's trying to steal your children from you and ruin our marriage?" Elliot blew a gasket and could not contain himself.

"Detective Stabler, you know better! Remain silent or your lawyer will inform you of my decision after the hearing is over," Judge Carlson gave him a look. The outburst certainly did not help his case but Martha quickly addressed the court.

"Your Honor, I find it convenient that the plaintiff would impeach the character of Detective Benson while she remains in critical condition at Bellevue."

"I would agree. It would seem that there is little point in continuing the hearing as we have no way of getting Detective Benson's side of the story. Since she is indisposed for the time being, I want counsel to provide briefs and any statements regarding the supposed fabrications on the original divorce paperwork by the end of business tomorrow, is that understood?" Judge Carlson asked.

"Yes your Honor," both lawyers replied.

"And Mr. Boles, if I find that this is just a giant goose chase and any other improprieties, you will find that list going to the disciplinary committee getting larger. I have little tolerance for those who try to play these games as does the law. Court is adjourned," Carlson banged his gavel and with that the hearing was over. Elliot stood up and threw his coat on.

"We need to talk strategy," Martha said.

"I've been away from the precinct and the hospital for too long. Alvarez's lawyer is trying to get evidence thrown out and we have to nail this down or he's going to get away with it. I also have to check on Liv," he said.

"Is that such a good idea? I mean we are in the middle of trying to prove you didn't cheat on your wife," Martha pointed out.

"I'm Liv's emergency medical contact. I have to check in," Elliott said. Martha gave him a look.

"She doesn't have any family. We agreed on this after her mother died six years ago," he told her.

"All right. Go. We'll talk later," Martha nodded.


	17. Chapter 17

"Shouldn't you be in court?" Munch asked as Elliot arrived at the precinct. He wanted to go to Bellevue but he knew he needed to check in with the unit first.

"What have we got?" He asked ignoring the question. Munch took that as a sign not to push.

"Alvarez's lawyer is trying to get everything in the storage lockers thrown out. Jersey is trying to nail his ass for the murder of Michelle Han in case we lose the evidence from inside the units. So far they can't find anything that connects Robbie to Michelle," the elder detective explained.

"Where are Fin and the Captain?" Elliot wanted to know since they seemed to be missing from the squad room.

"The Captain is coordinating with the Jersey police to see if any of our evidence would give them something to tie Michelle and Robbie together. Fin is with Huang bringing his bosses up to speed along with them helping to expedite some forensics found at the storage units. The Feds are willing to let Jersey and New York duke it out unless neither of us can convict him. Then they're going to step in," Much said.

"This all ties back into Michelle. How did she know him? We nail that then we can get him for murder in Jersey and try him later for our murders while he's sitting in jail," Elliot heaved a sigh.

"So far Jersey's background check hasn't found anything tying them together. I'm trying to cross-match her shopping habits in the city with places that Alvarez went to but I haven't found anything. Briscoe was checking into NYU but it seems like that's a dead end," the elder detective shook his head.

"No word on Elizabeth?" The former Marine wondered.

"The doctors had to amputate some more of her toes. She's still in a coma but even if she wakes up, they're afraid that she'll have brain damage. She breathed in the bulk of the chemicals that were let loose when we popped the trunk and aspirated some of her own vomit," Munch frowned.

"What were those chemicals again?" Elliot suddenly had an idea.

"Chloropicrin. It's used as a pesticide now but back in the day it was also used in chemical warfare. It's severely irritating to the lungs, eyes, and skin in high concentrations and can cause vomiting," he said.

"So the EPA has to regulate its use right?" The younger man asked.

"Yes but CSU said that the only way to get your hands on it is if you're a licensed professionals or a specially certified grower. No one on our list fits that description," Munch pointed out.

"Yes but who did Michelle work for? She might not have had direct access but there might have been another way for her to get her hands on it," Elliot said. The former Baltimore detective dug through the records in front of him and smirked,

"Garden State my ass. Michelle worked for DeWitt Chemical in the Human Resources department. They specialize in pesticides!"

"Call the Captain and give him an update. It's quite possible that they had a theft and didn't report it. The EPA doesn't look too kindly on misplaced possible chemical weapons. Either Michelle helped him get the chemicals or he used her ID to gain access to them. I'm heading to the hospital," he said and he made to move toward the door. Elliot never got out of the door, however, as his cellphone went off in his pocket.

"Stabler,"

"We've got something on Robbie Alvarez that might help you connect him to Michelle Han," TARU tech Ruben Morales said.

"What is it?" Elliot asked.

"He has searches on his computer for jobs at DeWitt Chemical. He wouldn't have the qualifications for it but that doesn't mean he didn't use an interview to gain access to the building and see how tight their security was. I found a phony resume too," Morales explained.

"I'll tell John. Seems Robbie wasn't as careful as he thought," Elliot smirked.

"Well he did delete them but as they say, nothing is ever truly deleted," the tech said.

"Thanks!" Elliot hung up and then turned to John who was on the phone with the Captain. Quickly, he told him to put it on speaker. John did so and Elliot divulged what he just found out.

"Excellent. I'll let Jersey know. Elliot get to the hospital and check on Liv," Cragen ordered.

"On my way," the detective said. He turned and headed out of the door, letting Munch handle things. Making his way to the car and then onto the road, Elliot worked his way toward Bellevue.

"Hello Detective Stabler. I'm guessing that you're here for an update on Elizabeth and Detective Benson," Doctor Kyle Beresford said as Elliot approached the nurses' station.

"How are they doing?" Elliot asked.

"Well Elizabeth is far from out of the woods. She has yet to regain consciousness and the extent of her injuries not only from the gas but from the beating she took prior to that," Doctor Beresford explained.

"Can you tell what she was beaten with? Our guy had wounds on his knuckles but we know that couldn't have been the only thing he used. The other victims are too beat up for him to not have broken his hands," the detective said.

"Well I can't speak to your other victims but Elizabeth has bruising consistent with a fist but there is other bruising and fractures that were probably done with a bat or a pipe," Beresford told him. Elliot nodded.

"As for Detective Benson, she's not awake yet either. When she fell and hit her head on the car, she did some serious damage to her head and neck. On top of that poison gas, which has damaged her lungs to a degree, has also caused the rashes on her skin. We've managed to control them but I think inducing a coma was probably the best course of action. She can heal and hopefully we don't need to do surgery," the doctor said.

"Surgery?" Elliot gave him a look. That hadn't been mentioned before.

"In order to help with the brain swelling. Her vertebrae seemed to have survived well from the fall but getting whacked by the car's fender and then the concrete floor just complicates things," he told him.

"How long do you think she'll be out of it?" Elliot wanted to know.

"As long as it takes to get better. I'm sorry I can't narrow it down just yet," the doctor said. He then clapped Elliot on the shoulder and went off to do his rounds. The detective moved down the hall to Olivia's room, needing to be close to her. He felt responsible and now he worried just what would happen when she woke up.


	18. Chapter 18

Three more agonizing days passed and Elliot spent as much time in the hospital as he could. It was hard considering they were battling to keep Robbie Alvarez behind bars either in New York or New Jersey and the fact that he was waiting to hear back regarding the divorce.

The paperwork had been delivered to Judge Carlson and he promised his decision in two days' time which was regrettably tomorrow. Then he would decide if they would need Olivia's testimony or not. Martha had discussed her concerns with Elliot regarding the case. Even if he wasn't sleeping with his partner, the story could be made to look that way. He was her emergency medical contact, she was involved with the children, giving them rides or helping out with advice, and it wasn't exactly helpful that the rumor mill around the precinct was that they were sleeping together. Their behavior certainly indicated that they were close considering they fought like a couple at times. It was bound to happen when you had two very passionate people doing a job that they were passionate about. Elliot wasn't sure how far this could go and how far Kathy was willing to push it but he figured he'd find out.

"Detective Stabler?" Doctor Kyle Beresford shook him from his thoughts in his seat next to Olivia's bed.

"Yes?" He asked.

"I just got off the phone with Detective Munch and I thought I'd deliver the news in person, Elizabeth Stevenson just died," the doctor said. Elliot let out a sigh. Robbie Alvarez had just claimed one more victim.

"What happened?" He wanted to know. In a scary way, Olivia could be in the same shape.

"It was all too much for her. Between the beating and the frostbite, we couldn't stop the infections. Her last brain scan showed little to no signs of activity and when we took her off the ventilator she couldn't breathe on her own. Her mother made the call to let her go," Beresford explained.

"Is that where Liv is headed?" He had to ask.

"Your partner is in much better shape before the incident so she had that going for her. Her last brain scan showed the swelling had reduced and we want to bring her around. We need to see if there was any permanent spinal damage," the doctor told him.

"You think she's ready?" Elliot was incredibly concerned about her coming out of the coma too soon.

"I hate to leave a patient in a medically induced coma for too long. Sometimes it can't be helped but she's been showing good signs of improvement and she's stable enough now. I do have to warn you though. Waking out of a medically induced coma is not like waking up to your alarm clock. There is a good chance she'll be confused or agitated or non-compliant," Beresford explained.

"That last one isn't exactly something new for her Doc," Elliot chuckled at his own joke. It was nervous laughter and the doctor could tell.

"Well then I'll look forward to seeing just how non-compliant she can be. Give me a few minutes to get a team together and we'll begin the process," he said.

"Thanks for everything Doc," Elliot smiled slightly.

"No problem, it's what I do," Beresford gave him a wink and then went out of the room. He was back in ten minutes with a team of nurses and they went about starting the process. It seemed like an eternity, but finally Olivia's eyelids began to flutter.

"Liv?" Elliot asked, taking her hand in his.


	19. Chapter 19

"Detective Stabler, what is the news on your partner?" Judge Carlson asked. Elliot rose from his seat next to Martha at the defendant's table.

"She's out of her medically induced coma but she can't talk until her throat heals a little more. The doctor's think her skin irritation and breathing should be better in about a week so they're keeping her until then, your Honor," he explained.

"Glad to hear she is on the mend. Mrs. Stabler alleges that you are her emergency medical contact?" The Judge wanted to know. Martha was about to object to the odd way the judge was handling the proceeding as it was against protocol but Elliot answered before she could say anything.

"She has no family left your Honor. I agreed to be her emergency medical contact because she's most likely to be hurt on the job and I would already be present to give consent for any emergency procedures," he told him.

"Very good. Please be seated," Carlson said. Elliot nodded and sat back down.

"Now, I have reviewed all the paperwork and I must say it seems to be full of innuendo but lacking on hard evidence. Even if I were to have Detective Benson brought into this courtroom, I don't see her being able to add to this proceeding. I warned you Mr. Boles, not to waste this court's time and you have," the Judge started.

"Your Honor. I object. You clearly favor the Detectives and you should recuse yourself from this case!" Boles stood up from his seat.

"Bias toward the plaintiff? Is that what you are accusing me of? What exactly do you think you'll gain by dragging Detective Benson in here, in a highly unusual move for divorce court? I allowed you the benefit of the doubt as there might have been a chance to catch her in a lie on the stand but you've shown me no evidence that there was anything to lie about," Carlson pointed out.

"Your Honor you have statements…"

"Those statements from children who have said that their father spends more time at work than with them? I defy you to find another police officer who doesn't have the same problem. Those statements regarding rumors being spread at the precinct where the Detectives work? You gave me no photographs, no receipts for gifts that the plaintiff never received, or any indication that the defendant was spending time in hotels. There is nothing here. Expect the disciplinary committee to be hearing from me," Carlson shot down Kathy's attorney and Elliot could see she was steaming.

"It is the opinion of this court that no perjury was committed when the divorce papers were originally signed. With no maleficence, I find that the original papers are binding. Custody of the children shall be shared as agreed upon. One word to the defendant and the plaintiff, make time for your children when they are with you. I don't want to see either of you back here," with that the hearing ended and the Judge banged his gavel. Elliot turned to Martha and shook her hand.

"Thank you," he smiled.

"You're welcome. Before you run off to the precinct or to the hospital, do me a favor and make sure that if you start having problems again, you call me. Something tells me that today's decision did little to change your ex-wife's mind," Martha told him.

"You've got it," Elliot nodded. Martha gave him a smile and he moved away from her and stayed away from Kathy as he exited the courtroom. He didn't want to give her the opportunity to try and start something right there in the court building. He worried that she was coming off the rails and decided that it would be a good idea to ask Huang what he thought. As much as he didn't like to admit it, he was a little out of his depth with Kathy's recent behavior. They hadn't really been in love the last few years but they stayed together for the children. Then he realized that staying together for the kids didn't really matter when the kids could tell that their parents were miserable. It was making everyone miserable so the split needed to happen. Her sudden belligerent behavior, just because of something that their daughter had said, seemed like an overreaction. He couldn't help shake his feelings as he climbed back into the standard issue sedan and headed for the precinct to check in.


	20. Chapter 20

"The judge in New Jersey is allowing their case to proceed and I've made notice that New York wants a crack at Alvarez as soon as they are done with him," Casey explained to the squad as they met in the squad room. They stood in front of the board where all the evidence was listed along with photos of the victims.

"Are you proceeding with the grand jury?" Munch asked.

"I intend to but so far I can only charge him with the kidnapping and murder of Elizabeth Stevenson, the attempted murder of Liv, and the death of Jane Doe, whom you found inside the storage compartment. Regrettably, the whole thing is tenuous because Alvarez's attorney, Trevor Langan, is challenging the search of the storage units," the ADA said.

"Kind of hard to challenge considering we found Elizabeth inside the locker," Fin pointed out.

"Yes but the units were not under Alvarez's name and none of the storage unit employees could positively identify him. Langan said we had no probable cause to search them," Casey shook her head.

"We have Alvarez's prints all over the place inside and outside on them. Plus a judge gave us a search warrant for the units. We have video of him kidnapping Elizabeth," Elliot argued.

"That only gets us the kidnapping and it ties him to the murder in New Jersey. It doesn't definitively tie him to the storage units. Langan is looking to challenge the search warrant because he's claiming the video doesn't conclusively prove it was his client. He's dragging our racist taggers into this," the red head said.

"Taggers don't suddenly kidnap someone and up their charges," Captain Cragen gave her a look.

"Langan is claiming that Elizabeth could have caught them in the act and they decided to kidnap her. He's also claiming that the name on the storage unit could be one of the taggers," Casey told them.

"That's ridiculous," Munch said.

"But it could play. Did we ever discover who these juvenile delinquents were?" Casey wanted to know.

"No. Once Mr. El-Amin installed those cameras and we've stepped up patrols in the area they haven't returned to the scene of the crime," Fin shook his head.

"Can't we flush them out?" She asked.

"They aren't going to magically step forward now. Especially since there was a murder committed there," Elliot raised an eyebrow, wondering where she was going with this.

"Bare minimum it's a hate crime. Maybe we could push it to an act of terrorism?" Everyone could see the wheels turning in Casey's head.

"How do you figure?" Cragen wanted to know.

"Well the dumpster fire ruined part of the building right? Mr. El-Amin isn't the only tenant. Didn't you say that the other businesses on top of the falafel bar were owned by other Muslims?" She inquired.

"Yes, the one directly above the restaurant sells books printed in Arabic and the one above that sells religious items like prayer rugs. How do we get to terrorism from there?" Elliot questioned her thought process.

"We don't necessarily. Where is Huang?" Casey asked.

"He's swinging by soon," Fin said.

"Call him. I have an idea," the ADA smirked. Captain Cragen pulled out his phone and called the FBI agent. Huang promised to get there as fast as he could and they would discuss Casey's idea.

Hours later inside Judge Arthur Cohen's chambers, Casey and Trevor were ready to argue their case. The Judge sat down and gave them a look.

"We seem like eager beavers today. What exactly is the problem?" Cohen asked.

"The search warrant for the storage units that allegedly belong to my client should never have been issued, Judge," Langan spoke up.

"Your Honor, Judge Kline certainly found enough evidence to sustain the warrant," Casey argued.

"I have to admit Counselor, why would I overturn this warrant, especially since Kline and another state's judge found it credible enough for New Jersey to proceed against your client," Cohen wanted to know.

"The state has weak evidence that could point to the criminals who tagged Mr. El-Amin's building or set his dumpster on fire. None of it is specific to my client," Langan argued.

"What of it Miss Novak?" Cohen asked.

"We have security footage of his client kidnapping Elizabeth Stevenson out near the scene of the tagging and dumpster fire. For all we know, his client did that before he decided to start killing people," Casey said.

"Your Honor, they can't prove conclusively that the man in the video is my client. Nor can they prove he tagged or set fire to a dumpster," Langan argued.

"The car seen in the video was the property of the murder victim in New Jersey your Honor. Since New Jersey has arrested Alvarez for her death and he was seen in her car, I would suggest that people who tag and start fires don't steal cars and murder people. Also, his client has an alibi that no one can confirm," Casey argued right back.

"She's got you there, Counselor. The MO doesn't make sense," Cohen said.

"The video they have is not good quality and no one could pick my client out of a lineup," Langan said.

"That sounds like something you can argue at trial," Cohen raised an eyebrow.

"Your Honor is this helps, the FBI is now investigating the tagging and dumpster fire as a hate crime and possible links to terrorism. Their lab is currently working with said video to see if they can clean it up even more. When they are done, it will either completely finger his client or it will finger the taggers and arsonists. If the video proves that it wasn't his client then the search warrant and its fruits would not go against him. If it proves to be his client then under inevitable discovery, the search warrant would be valid," Casey spoke up.

"Winner winner chicken dinner. Mr. Langan your motion is denied pending the outcome of the FBI's work with the video in question," Judge Cohen said.


	21. Chapter 21

"So how are you feeling?" Elliot asked. He sat in Olivia's hospital room a couple of days after Casey managed to convince the FBI to enhance the videotape. The FBI was still working on the tape but they hoped to have results tomorrow. Alvarez hadn't budged and Huang suspected as much from the beginning; even after they'd identified the mummified body in the storage locker. They'd easily connected the dead woman to Alvarez as the woman had been reported missing in the area of NYU and there was actually a witness who had last seen her getting willingly into the car with a man matching Alvarez's description.

Elliot wasn't focused on that now though as Olivia was almost completely healed though she still wore a neck brace and had some minor rashes left. She was due for another MRI in a few hours to see if the brace could come off. Doctor Beresford said that she'd still be stiff for a little while but he was hoping that was it.

"Like I want to get out of here," Olivia's voice was still a little croaky.

"Maybe we should be using the write and wipe?" Her partner grimaced, thinking it had to hurt and scooped up the board and marker which were on the tray in front of her. Olivia took a sip of water from the cup on her tray and cleared her throat.

"Doc says I have to use it or lose it," she said, sounding a little better.

"Gotcha. Only a few more days in here and then we'll work out where you're staying," he told her.

"At my place?" Olivia gave him a confused look.

"The doctor said that we need to keep an eye on your skin and your voice. You're going to have a follow up appointment three days after your release so until then he wants you staying with someone," Elliot said.

"Can't I just go back to work?" She asked.

"No. Captain says you've got enough vacation time and you aren't cleared until your neck is at one hundred percent," her partner explained.

"How long is that?" Olivia gave him a look that was usually reserved for suspects.

"Depends on the MRI and follow up visit," he said. Olivia frowned. The frown didn't stay long though as suddenly she found her right hand being occupied by one of his hands. She turned to look at him.

"That's twice you've given me a good scare in the last nine months," he said.

"Well I think that comes in the job description," Olivia pointed out. Elliot heaved a sigh as if there was something he was trying to say. He wouldn't look at her and that made her wonder what was going through his head. She knew what was going through her head and she decided that she wouldn't wait anymore. He was right. In the last nine months, she'd almost had her throat cut, almost had to shoot her partner, and now had been injured in the chase for a serial killer.

"El. Look at me," Olivia said. He slowly obliged and the look on his face was one that she couldn't exactly place.

"I've tried to ignore it. I've tried to rationalize it. I've tried a lot of things but after all these things, I can't anymore. I know what's at stake but…" she never got to finish the thought as Elliot stood from his chair and placed his lips on hers. It was soft and quick as if he was just checking that she was there.

"I know," his words were just above a whisper.

"You do?" Her words were just as quiet.

"I've known for a while and I knew that I couldn't live without you. It has been there for a while but Gitano…" he trailed off; they both knew what he meant.

"So what do we do?" She asked as if she really had no idea. They were treading on dangerous ground though that wasn't something they weren't used to.

"Do what other couples do. See where it goes," he said honestly. She smiled and said,

"Then kiss me again."


	22. Chapter 22

"Ok Robbie, I've got some good news and some bad news," Casey said as she sat down with New Jersey ADA Sean O'Hair. They were meeting at the local New Jersey police station and Robbie Alavrez had been brought in from their holding facility.

"Talk to me and not my client," Trevor Langan said.

"Either way, the good news is that the FBI is done with the tape. The bad news is that you're the star," Casey smirked as she laid out the pictures from the cleaned up tape.

"That means that New York has you for the kidnapping and murder of Elizabeth Stevenson and the attempted murder of Detective Benson, and New Jersey has you for the theft of Michelle Han's car and her murder," O'Hair spoke up.

"What are you offering?" Langan wanted to know.

"A choice. Life in prison, either in New York or New Jersey," Casey told them.

"No," Robbie Alvarez said.

"You're going down one way or the other. We have you on tape and the storage locker conclusively proves that you had Michelle Han's car in your possession. At a minimum, you murdered two women. That doesn't cover the mummified remains we found inside the storage locker and the two women you dumped, one of which where you picked up Elizabeth Stevenson," O'Hair pointed out.

"I don't want any deals," Robbie barked.

"Let me talk to my client," Langan said. Casey nodded and she and O'Hair left the room. After they closed the door, he turned to Casey.

"So what are your thoughts on this guy?" He asked.

"I'd say nuttier than a fruitcake if he hadn't been murdering women and getting away with it," she admitted.

"He's crazy all right. Crazy like a fox," O'Hair nodded.

"Huang was right. If he hadn't screwed up…" Casey let out a sigh.

"Well there's no way he's wriggling out of this one," the New Jersey ADA pointed out.

"No he is not. We just have to make sure he never gets out of prison," she said. There was a knock on the window and the two lawyers headed back inside.

"My client wants his day in court," Langan explained.

"That's fine. Sean would you tell him the good news then?" Casey suggested.

"Since New York has graciously allowed us first bite, we'll be asking for the death penalty if this goes to trial," O'Hair explained.

"We all know that New Jersey is in the process of trying to abolish the death penalty," Langan pointed out.

"Well until its official, we're still allowed to use it. That being said, even if they abolish it, I think they'd make an exception for your client," Sean said.

"So we'll offer it again; life without parole, you allocute to all the murders, including the three prostitutes," Casey told him.

"Robbie, it's the best deal you're going to get," Langan stressed again. All eyes were on the serial killer.

"I want a new attorney," he said.

"You have one of the best defense attorneys in New York. A new one won't change the evidence," Casey pointed out.

"I want a new attorney," Alvarez wouldn't budge.

"All righty then. I'll get the officers. You're heading back to your cell," O'Hair spoke up and stood from his chair. Casey stood up as well, completely and utterly confused. Once they were outside the room, O'Hair turned to her and said,

"You know I have to order a psych exam."

"Yeah and that's what I'm afraid of," Casey told him.


	23. Chapter 23

"Jersey ADA O'Hair had to order a psych exam and he agreed to let Huang talk to Robbie since the FBI has more experience with serial killers," Elliot finished as he collected Olivia's belongings from around the hospital room. The MRI from two days ago had proven that the neck brace could come off but Olivia would be on painkillers for a little while longer to make sure the inflammation was under control and there was no permanent damage. Doctor Beresford saw no reason to keep her any longer since she'd passed the mobility test with only a little pain and her skin was practically healed. Now her partner was picking her up along with all her prescriptions and instructions for what she could and could not do between now and her first follow up appointment.

"Smart to use Huang. The defense can't argue that he has a stake in the case since New York and New Jersey are fighting over him," Olivia called from the bathroom where she was finally putting on some real clothes instead of that stupid hospital gown.

"That's what Casey and O'Hair thought. Anyway, Huang is with him right now. I need to talk to you about something since we're on the topic of mental issues," Elliot said. He'd finished bagging everything up and was ready to go when she was.

"I know you're a nut case. Seems I can't help myself," she chuckled as she exited the bathroom. While sweatpants and a loose sweatshirt were not exactly her idea of being sexy, it was the only thing she could wear that wouldn't rub up against her bandages or her skin that much. Those rashes were almost gone but they were still sensitive and the ones that were the worst the doctor wanted covered with gauze and ointment.

"Very funny. It's about Kathy," he said.

"Look I know that she is going to find it tough, especially since you basically just told the court that we weren't involved, but we don't have to tell her or the kids or do anything crazy. Heck, I wouldn't even mention it to the Captain. He probably wouldn't even notice any difference just yet," Olivia started.

"No it isn't that, well not yet anyway. I spoke to Huang about her behavior," Elliot admitted.

"Oh," she was surprised to hear it. Elliot had been very resistive when Huang had joined the team but eventually he appreciated the doctor's insight even if it didn't always look like it.

"I was concerned because the kids are still going to live with her for a good portion of the week and I wanted to be sure that everything was all right. Her behavior is erratic," he continued.

"Well as much as you two both agreed that the marriage wasn't working, it's still a big change in everyone's lives. Maybe she doesn't know how to handle it. I'm sure the kids are struggling," Olivia said.

"Yes and no. They knew we were unhappy and that this was coming. I think what they are confused about now is Kathy. I mean she was willing to try to lie in court. She told them to give statements about how I wasn't around. Dickie told me that at home she's been snapping at them and angry since the court date. I won't go into the house to get them because I don't want her starting an argument. I mean things are hard enough without her complicating them. Huang said he'd like to sit down with her or at least recommend someone who will see her just so she can address her feelings in a healthy way but I'm not going to be able to convince her to do that," Elliot admitted.

"She was never my biggest fan. I certainly could try though if you want me to," Olivia told him. He heaved a sigh and gave her a loving look.

"I appreciate that you would even offer but you're right. That won't go well," he said.

"What if we get someone from the department to do it? I mean I didn't press charges when she slapped me and we kept it to ourselves at the precinct but maybe we could have the local precinct check in and see how everything is going?" She suggested.

"It's a thought. Let's table that for now and get you home," Elliot told her.

"Sounds good. I'm dying for a real bed and some real food," Olivia smiled.

"Ok food first. Besides I think that one of these pills needs you to eat before you take it," he held up a quart bag with medicine bottles and ointment tubes in it," he said.

"Oh joy," she rolled her eyes.


	24. Chapter 24

"So in your professional opinion Doctor Huang, the defendant is not mentally unwell," ADA O'Hair asked. Huang sat on the witness stand the next day as the New Jersey court was holding a hearing to go over the results of the exam.

"Narcissistic, intelligent, and calculating, but not crazy," Huang explained.

"Thank you," O'Hair smiled and concluded his questions.

"Let me get this straight Doctor. The prosecution is claiming that my client murdered a woman here in New Jersey and stole her car all so he could continue to commit crimes in New York. How exactly does the FBI not have any stake in this case? How can you be impartial?" The new defense attorney, Sandra Burns, wanted to know.

"The only offense that the defendant could be charged with federally is the stealing of the car in New Jersey and then using it in New York. Since the murder charges trump that, New York and New Jersey are going to each have a chance to get justice," Huang was calm.

"All right, so let's turn our attention to my client. He commits murder in two states, steals cars, attempts to kill an NYPD detective and somehow he isn't crazy. Isn't that a little odd?" Burns pressed.

"I believe your client is a sociopath. He shows no remorse for what he's done. He's incredibly manipulative. That's how he got the women to trust him enough to get into his car. My guess is that the original assault of Elizabeth Stevenson emboldened him. She did not report it to the college authorities only complaining about her professor, who was physically unable to commit the crime of rape. He then moved onto prostitutes or women that would not be readily missed.

I believe that when he stumbled onto Elizabeth again, walking the streets alone, in the winter, without the proper clothing on, he thought that he could grab her, do what he wanted to her, and kill her. She was the only living witness to his crimes and his true self. She posed the greatest risk. It is unlucky for him that some racist people had been trying to tag and light the Middle Eastern restaurant on fire. The owner placed a camera to catch the doers in the act and instead got your client," the doctor finished.

"That doesn't explain why his fingerprints were found at Michelle Han's home," Burns pointed out.

"He was sloppy, but to be honest, they probably would not have caught him if her car and chemicals from her workplace hadn't gone missing. Once they got his prints off of the equipment at DeWitt Chemical, they matched them to the prints in her home. Those prints were found inside the storage locker with Michelle's car and the stolen chemicals, along with Elizabeth Stevenson," Huang said.

"Taking all that into consideration, doesn't the fact that he was sloppy and did get caught, and then refuses to take a deal, even with damning evidence right in front of him, mean that there is something mentally wrong with him?" Burns asked.

"Sloppy because he'd become overconfident or was in a rush. As for refusing to take a deal, I think, he thinks, he can manipulate the jury, just as he manipulated the women he killed," the FBI agent responded. Burns heaved a sigh and the judge turned to her and wanted to know,

"Any more questions counselor?"

"No your honor," she admitted.

"Then I find the defendant competent to stand trial. Doctor Huang, you may step down. ADA O'Hair, you offered a deal previously, is that deal still on the table?" Judge Simes asked.

"The deal is still on the table your Honor. ADA Casey Novak from the New York DA's office is in agreement with the deal," he explained.

"Miss Burns, can your client agree to the terms set forth by the district attorney?" Simes gave her a look.

"Chambers your Honor?" She asked. The judge raised an eyebrow and then agreed to the terms. Casey had been sitting in the gallery and quickly went to join O'Hair.

"What couldn't be discussed in front of your client Miss Burns?" Simes inquired.

"My client wants his day in court. He refuses to budge. He's threatening to fire me if he doesn't get his way," she explained.

"I'm beginning to see a pattern forming here your Honor," O'Hair said.

"There's nothing I can do if this guy wants his day in court. Off the record Margie," he stated to his stenographer. She nodded and he continued, "Personally, I think he's nuts. Not only will the jury convict but they'll go for the death penalty, for however long we still have it." The judge said.

"I agree but if he keeps firing his attorneys, he'll never go to trial and at some point, he may attempt to file for bail. He gets out on bail and he's gone your Honor," O'Hair told them.

"I agree," Burns nodded.

"Back on the record, Margie," Simes said. Again she nodded and the judge continued, "Short court date to be set. Miss Novak, is New York set to proceed should it be necessary?"

"Yes, your Honor. The grand jury indicted yesterday. The courts are aware of our situation and are awaiting your ruling," she explained.

"Very good. Off to trial, we go," Simes said. The little gathering broke up and headed back into the courtroom. Simes declared the hearing over and Huang walked up to Casey.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Alvarez wants to go to trial. Are you sure he's not crazy?" She gave him a look.

"I'm sure of it," Huang gave her a look.

"We need to help O'Hair nail him if he takes the stand," Casey said.

"Agreed," Huang nodded. The two turned to the ADA in question and then got to work planning their next steps as they headed for his office. The only reassurance they had was that New York would get their crack at Alvarez should New Jersey fail.

Meanwhile, Elliot was helping Olivia settle in. He'd been helping keep track of her medications and when she was supposed to be taking them. He'd also helped to undress and redress her rashes with ointment, gauze, and tape.

"I like being pampered," she smiled as her partner came back over to the couch where she was relaxing.

"Well hopefully we can do something a little more fun once your follow up appointment," he chuckled. It was still two days away from the appointment and Elliot had vowed to sleep on that same couch to keep an eye on her.

"What do you have in mind?" she waggled her eyebrows.

"Down girl," he chuckled.

"Well we know where your mind has been," Olivia laughed.

"The gutter is a very fashionable place, don't you know," Elliot teased. She laughed and grabbed the nearby pillow to hit him with it.

"I'm going to let that go because you're sick," he said.

"Oh I know I'll never live that down," she teased. Elliot was going to reply when his cellphone went off. He picked it up and answered,

"Stabler,"

"Dickie? What's going on?" Olivia wasn't sure but it didn't sound good. She was off the couch in a hurry, putting on her sneakers and coat. She grabbed Elliot's gear and he put it on while he was listening to his son.

"We'll be right there. Don't move!" He told him and he hung up. Olivia tossed him the keys to his unmarked sedan.

"Kathy is screaming at the department representative. If she doesn't calm down, the officer that went with her is threatening to arrest Kathy. Something is very wrong," he explained as they climbed into the car.

"Let's get over there," Olivia said. She put the light on top of the car and Elliot threw on the siren as they raced over to his ex-wife's place.


	25. Chapter 25

It didn't matter how fast they drove as they pulled up to the Stabler home and found Kathy being put in the back of the police car. Elliot cursed under his breath and the two exited their car the moment he slammed it into park in the nearest space.

"What happened?" Elliot asked as he flashed his badge.

"She took a swing at the shrink," Officer Sweeney said referring to the mental health NYPD representative.

"Are you arresting her?" Olivia wanted to know.

"No, I'm taking her to Bellevue for a psych exam," the officer responded.

"I'm going with you," Elliot told him.

"I'll give you a lift. Who is going to stay with the kids?" Sweeney asked.

"I'll stay," Olivia turned to him and gave him a reassuring look. Suddenly, they could hear Kathy screaming that she didn't want Olivia near her kids.

"Do what you gotta do. I don't want to put her in the system if I can help it," Sweeney said. Olivia nodded and headed inside to check on everyone while Elliot climbed into the passenger seat of the patrol car.

"Hey guys," Olivia smiled slightly at the kids. Maureen was on the couch in the living room holding onto Lizzie, who was crying. Kathleen and Dickie were sitting in the other chairs in the room, just shocked, and unsure what was next.

"Detective Benson?" a blonde woman about her age asked from behind her. Olivia turned around and gave her a once over.

"Yes and you are…?" Olivia asked as they shook hands.

"Doctor Hill, NYPD psychiatrist," she smiled slightly.

"What happened?" Olivia wanted to know as she ushered her to the kitchen table.

"I showed up with Officer Sweeney as per our arrangement and Mrs. Stabler became a bit unglued," Hill explained.

"What's wrong with her?" The detective asked.

"Regrettably, I can't give a diagnosis based off of my limited time with her. She was combative and refused to answer my questions, including simple ones, like how things were going. Then as I tried to press a little harder, she took a swing at me," Hill told her.

"You have to understand that Kathy is not like that normally. Elliot is concerned for her and the kids which is why he asked for help," Olivia said.

"This was a sudden change in behavior?" The psychiatrist was curious.

"Yes. For a long time I feel like she felt Elliot was cheating on her with me because he spent more time with me but it's the job. He loves his kids and for a long time he loved Kathy. It's just stressful when you're trying to catch rapists and then not bring it home with you," the detective told her.

"I could see that. Now, what behaviors did she display?" Hill pressed.

"Well she slapped me in the precinct, I didn't press charges. Then she tried to say that El lied on the divorce paperwork and dragged him into court. She tried to take custody of the kids away from him by being sneaky and underhanded. She believes that I'm trying to become their new mom. Then she got angry when the judge sided with Elliot. He has been avoiding coming into the house because he's concerned that she might start a fight when he comes to pick up the kids for their weekend visits," Olivia explained.

"I'm going to get a ride to Bellevue and share this information with the doctors there. It might not be a mental disorder but a physical issue," the psychiatrist said.

"We just want her to be healthy. Whatever it takes," Olivia said.

"I'll see what I can do. Thanks for your help," Hill smiled and walked outside to hail a taxi. Olivia then turned her focus to the kids. She wasn't sure how they'd react but she had to try and comfort them.

"What's going to happen to Mom?" Maureen asked. Lizzie has stopped crying but was still leaning on her older sister.

"They're taking her to the hospital to get checked out. Doctor Hill is going to help but I need a little help from you guys so I can pass along some information to her," Olivia said.

"What like snooping in her things?" Kathleen was glaring at the detective.

"It's not snooping if her medications are interacting. We need to give the doctors all the information we can," Olivia explained. She hated to do this but she also didn't have time to just go snooping around the house. Not only that, it would not look like help to the kids.

"Mom doesn't take anything except for when she's having sinus troubles or a cold," Maureen told her.

"Ok, that's good to know. Is she having troubles now?" Olivia asked.

"No. Other than her weird moods she seems fine," Maureen shrugged.

"I found a bottle of pills…" Lizzie spoke up and all the eyes in the room turned to her.

"Where sweetie?" Olivia wanted to know.

"I was helping with the wash and the bottle fell out of Mom's scrubs," she said.

"Do you still have it?" The detective was secretly hoping that the girl did. Kathy could be self-medicating or hiding a serious condition from everyone.

"No but I wrote down the name of it so I could look it up," Lizzie admitted.

"You're such a snoop!" Kathleen burst out.

"Lay off stinkweed! There could be something really wrong with Mom!" Dickie shouted back, protecting his twin.

"That's enough! It's not snooping; it might be the only thing that helps your Mom and the Doctors. Now Lizzie, please get the piece of paper that you wrote the name down on. Maureen, have you guys eaten lunch?" Olivia started to take charge as the youngest daughter headed for the paper she had.

"Yeah but it probably wouldn't hurt to get something going for dinner," the older girl said.

"Ok, you guys want pizza? My treat," the older woman smiled.

"Sounds good to me," Dickie smiled slightly.

"All right, call the place you usually go and ask for delivery. I'm going to call your father," Olivia told them. Lizzie returned and the detective thanked her before getting on her phone in the other room.

"El, Lizzie said she found this pill bottle in her mother's scrubs," Olivia told him.

"She's self-medicating?" Elliot sounded defeated.

"I have no idea but the medicine is called Levothyroxine," she said.

"Ok, I'll tell the doctor. It's time for your meds," he noted and her jaw almost dropped. In the middle of all of this he remembered that she needed to take her medicine.

"I didn't grab any when we left," she realized.

"In the console, in the car," Elliot said.

"Good to know. Call me when you know something. The kids and I are going to have pizza," Olivia told him.

"Great. I'll call you when I know something," he heaved a sigh.

"Good luck," she said.

"Thanks, you too," Elliot told her. With that the call was over and Olivia headed back out to the kitchen. She became lightheaded and steadied herself on the wall. Maureen saw that she was struggling and helped her to a chair.

"Are you ok?" The girl asked.

"Side effect of spending so long in the hospital and my medication, I'm afraid," she smiled slightly.

"I saw the news. I'm glad you're ok," Maureen smiled back. Olivia was a little surprised that Elliot and Kathy hadn't said anything but then again bringing up his partner might not have been such a good idea, giving the circumstances.

"I need a favor," the detective said.

"Sure," Maureen replied.

"My medication is in the car in the console. Could you get them for me?" Olivia asked as she handed her the keys from her jean pocket.

"Absolutely," the younger girl smiled and took the keys.

"Are you ok, Livvy?" Lizzie wanted to know.

"I'll be fine. Just going to take a little while for me to get back to normal, I guess. How about you Lizzie? Are you ok?" Olivia knew it was a loaded question but she wanted to really know.

"I have no idea," she answered truthfully. Olivia held out her arms and pulled her into a hug and the girl started to cry again.

"It's going to be ok sweetie. Your Dad is doing everything he can for your Mom. We'll get through this," the truth of the matter was, she had no idea if that was the case but that wasn't what Lizzie needed to hear. Dickie came into the room to return the phone to the cradle after ordering the pizza and waved it at her. Olivia mouthed "thank you" and he nodded. He then went about getting plates and napkins ready. Olivia noted that the only one missing was Kathleen. Maureen walked back in a couple of pill bottles in her hand. She seemed to notice that her middle sister wasn't in the room with everyone else. Setting the pills down on the table, Maureen moved into the living room and that's when everyone in the kitchen heard,

"That bitch is trying to replace Mom!" Lizzie started crying harder and Olivia just held her close.


	26. Chapter 26

What seemed like an eternity later, Elliot walked in the front door. He looked as though he'd been dragged through hell and Olivia was concerned that things had gone poorly at the hospital.

"Where's Mom?" Lizzie asked. It was nearing her bedtime and she was exhausted but not enough to be unaware her mother didn't come home.

"They needed to keep her at the hospital overnight. They want to be sure all the test results come back first," he was honest with her. Lizzie nodded but didn't say anything. Then she hugged her dad and then hugged Olivia and headed up to bed.

"Is there any food in the fridge? I'm starving," Elliot said.

"Leftover pizza. Dickie ordered extra in case we needed it," she smiled slightly.

"Not a bad plan. You want me to swing by your place and pick up some fresh clothes? We're going to have to stay with the kids tonight," he wanted to know.

"I can catch a cab. You've had a long day. I'll grab some things and be right back," Olivia told him.

"You sure?" He asked.

"Absolutely. Besides I got the distinct feeling that Kathleen isn't interested in me being here," she said. He gave her a confused look and she just indicated that the girl needed some space. Then she grabbed her jacket and headed out for a cab. Elliot heated up some pizza and then headed into the living room where Maureen and Kathleen were watching TV.

"Hey guys," he smiled slightly as he plopped down in the easy chair to enjoy his pizza.

"Hey Dad," Maureen gave him a smile and then focused back on the TV.

"How are you guys holding up? Mom should be home tomorrow," Elliot told them. Kathleen got off the couch, huffing as she did so, and headed out of the room.

"Something I said?" He asked his older daughter.

"Kathleen thinks that Olivia is trying to replace Mom. She blew up at her today and has been in a rotten mood," Maureen admitted.

"Ok no matter what happens between Olivia and me or your Mother and me, you know that no one is trying to replace anyone right?" He wanted her to know.

"Of course. As far as step-moms go, Olivia would be awesome. I just think that Kathleen is believing everything Mom has been telling her lately. I love Mom I do, but when she started saying things like "she's trying to take you away from me" and "your father is out to get me", I didn't believe it. You and Olivia have been partners for a long time, I don't see you suddenly becoming different people just because you and mom got a divorce," Maureen told him.

"Who said anything about Liv being your step-mom?" Elliot swallowed his pizza hard. While he knew he was in love with Olivia, he had no intentions of proposing anytime soon. They hadn't even gone out on a date yet.

"No one. I just don't see her as being a terrible option. I mean she's always been interested in what we're up to and more than willing to help anytime we need it. We're not her kids, she doesn't have to care. Yet she does and, at least to me and certainly to Lizzie, it means a lot," Maureen confessed.

"Well I know it would mean a lot to her if you told her that. She's feeling awkward and wants to help but it's not easy," he said.

"You've been taking care of her since she got out of the hospital, haven't you?" Maureen asked.

"Yes. She doesn't have anyone else and her follow up appointment is coming up the day after tomorrow," he told her.

"Good. I know she's tough but after I read that article in the paper I was worried. Why didn't you say something?" The young woman wanted to know.

"Your Mom's behavior was enough to keep us all worried, especially with the court hearings. I didn't want to add more to the plate or the fire as it is turning out to be," he was blatantly honest.

"I don't see you calling the FDNY over this one," Maureen chuckled.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Elliot chuckled too.

"How bad is it?" She looked at him like only a concerned daughter can.

"They have her sedated and they are running blood tests and doing scans. They think it's something physical so in a way that's a good thing because it should be correctable," he was as honest as he felt he could be given what he knew and what he didn't. He felt like his oldest was capable of handling it.

"That makes me feel a little better," she nodded.

"Me too," Elliot heaved a sigh and wiped his face. He got up from the chair, walked over to the couch, and pulled Maureen into a hug.

"Thanks for being so strong sweetie. I know this hasn't been easy. Things will be back to normal soon," he promised.

"What normal is that?" She asked.  _Touché_ , he thought. He kissed the top of her head and then she stood up.

"I'm off to bed. See you in the morning," she said.

"You got it. Sleep tight," he smiled. He watched her go and then cleaned up his plate and garbage. He went into the fridge and realized that Kathy was out of beer. Heaving a sigh, he settled for a glass of water which wasn't much of a substitute. Then he headed to the couch and collapsed there. Next thing he knew, he was being tucked in. Blinking he saw Olivia, picking his legs up and putting them on the couch.

"What are you doing?" He mumbled.

"You're going to hurt your back again. Off to bed with you," she chuckled.

"Oh no. You get the couch, I'll figure something out," Elliot said.

"Negative solider. Couch," Olivia gave him a stern look and to be honest, he was too tired to argue.

"She's self-medicating Liv," he heaved a sigh. She indicated for him to move over and sat down near his stomach.

"How bad is it?" She asked.

"She was using that Levothyroxine for her thyroid but the problem wasn't her thyroid. Well not initially," he admitted.

"Not initially?" Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"The doctors ran a blood test and her hormone levels were all over the place. They ran an MRI scan and found that her thyroid is enlarged but that isn't the worst of it," Elliot continued.

"What?" She asked.

"The doctor thinks she's going through premature menopause. It accounts for the mood swings and irritability. Of course, she was hiding it so, there's no way to tell for sure. But the medicine she was taking made it worse because it wasn't treating the actual problem just exacerbating it. They're going to run more tests in the morning to make sure that her enlarged thyroid isn't cancer," he was close to losing it, which he didn't do often.

"Oh El," Olivia said.

"What am I supposed to tell the kids?" Elliot asked.


	27. Chapter 27

"Roberto Alvarez, the jury having found you guilty of the murder of Michelle Han and the theft of her car and the chemicals from DeWitt Chemical, they will now decide on your sentence. Do you have any witnesses to offer to plead for leniency or do you have anything you'd like to say?" Judge Simes asked. The trial had gone like many figured. The jury had no problem convicting the murderer given the evidence. Since ADA O'Hair was able to go for capital punishment, he did, as he promised. New Jersey was literally on the cusp of abolishing the death penalty; in fact the decision would be made by December a mere eight months away, so the likelihood that Alvarez would be executed was slim to none but life without the possibility of parole would work just as well.

"I am innocent," the defendant said.

"And De-Nile is a big river," Casey muttered under her breath from her spot in the gallery. Doctor Huang was sitting next to her and he smirked.

"Right," Simes shook his head and then turned his attention to the jury for their instructions.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, you are now tasked with making the difficult decision of whether the defendant shall spend the rest of his life in prison or he should die by lethal injection. I urge you to take your time and make a unanimous decision. You are now excused to deliberate," the judge explained. The jury filed out and Casey stood up from her seat. ADA O'Hair turned to her and asked,

"Well now we wait. Do you have New York's statement prepared for transferring Alvarez to your custody?"

"I do but New York has no reason to try him since he was convicted here and will basically never get out of jail. All we are requiring, in order to drop the charges in New York, is that he confess to the crimes which he committed back home, namely, the deaths of the four women, and the attempted murder of Detective Benson. If he refuses, I'll go at him with both barrels," Casey explained.

"You have him nailed for Elizabeth Stevenson and Gwen Drysdale and of course the attempt on Detective Benson," O'Hair nodded.

"We do. So you want to get some lunch?" Casey asked.

"With my star helpers? You bet," O'Hair smiled and the three headed to a diner not far from the courthouse. They were just finishing up when the New Jersey ADA's phone rang. He quickly answered it. The call lasted all of thirty seconds and he turned to his cohorts.

"The jury is back," he smirked.

"Well that didn't take long," Huang commented.

"All they probably did was think about their daughters or nieces and how they would feel. Plus Alvarez never once showed remorse," O'Hair said.

"Sociopaths never do," Huang pointed out. They settled their check and quickly headed back to the courthouse.

Meanwhile, back at the one-six, Olivia was staring at the same e-mail she'd been staring at for the last twenty minutes. Struggling to read with comprehension, she got up from her desk and poured another cup of swill from the coffee machine.

"I wouldn't touch that stuff with a ten foot pole," Munch called out to her.

"Why?" She gave him a look.

"I think that pot was made last night," the elder detective said. Practically gagging, she grabbed the pot and headed for the break room to wash it out. On her way, she bumped into Elliot who was late getting in.

"Everything ok?" She asked.

"I'll explain later. Is the Captain in?" He wanted to know.

"Yeah he's in his office," Olivia gave him a concerned look. He hadn't explained what his plans had been last night when they had separated. He was heading over to meet up with Kathy and the kids but that was as much as she knew. They had just gone on an official date two weeks ago even though it had been almost two months since they'd admitted their feelings for one another. Admittedly, Olivia hadn't been pushing and taking care of the kids and Kathy had been foremost on Elliot's docket besides work.

"Ok great," Elliot smiled and was off. Olivia shook her head and went about fixing the coffee pot. When she got back and was filling up the machine to make more, she noticed that Elliot was still in the Captain's office and Munch and Fin were putting on their coats.

"We got a case. Desk Sergeant gave us the heads up," Munch said.

"You need me?" Olivia asked.

"Always baby girl," Fin winked. She smirked.

"How long is your partner going to be talking to Captain? Everything ok?" Munch wanted to know.

"Things have been tough but he was all smiles in the hallway," Olivia shrugged.

"Stabler? Smiling? We sure you're talking about your partner?" Fin chuckled.

"Come on. Let's go and he'll catch up," she shook her head and smiled.


	28. Chapter 28

Later that evening, Elliot dropped Olivia off at her apartment. They were deep into their new case regarding an assault on a woman and the Good Samaritan who got beat up for trying to step in and neither one was really focused on anything else. Well at least until Elliot leaned over and kissed Olivia's cheek. She blushed which made him chuckle.

"Badass Benson blushes?" He asked.

"Not normally," she admitted.

"Good to know that I can still do that," Elliot smirked.

"You coming up?" She wanted to know.

"Why Detective Benson, I do believe that you are stepping into dangerous territory," he teased.

"Well we're going to have to be in early tomorrow anyway and you did leave some clothes at my place even though I haven't needed medical attention for quite some time," Olivia pointed out.

"That explains where my blue shirt and black pants went," he laughed.

"So that's a 'yes' then?" She asked.

"Of course and I have a surprise up there waiting for you," Elliot told her. Before she could say anything, he got out of the car and headed around the front of the vehicle. Olivia climbed out and he offered her his hand. She took it and they walked into her building and up to her apartment.

"You left my lights on?" Her senses on high alert, knowing she hadn't left them on this morning.

"The surprise must have left them on," he shook his head and she looked at him funny before slipping the key into the lock. She opened the door and was in for a surprise when she heard familiar voices in the kitchen.

"El…" she didn't get a chance to finish her thought as his kids came over to meet their father and his partner.

"Surprise!" Maureen smiled.

"I'll say," Olivia smiled back.

"We intended to take you out for dinner but since Dad said you guys were working a case, we figured pizza might be better," Dickie was smiling too.

"Pizza is always better. If you don't mind me asking though, why the surprise?" She asked.

"We wanted to thank you for helping out with Mom," Lizzie spoke up.

"No thanks were needed but I'll not turn down pizza," Olivia chuckled.

"Good because it might be getting cold," Dickie pointed out.

"Then let's get a move on," Elliot said and the kids turned around, heading back into the other room. It did not escape Olivia's notice that Kathleen was not there. She didn't bring it up though. They could talk later about it.

"So how is everyone?" She asked as they sat down to eat the pizza at her kitchen table.

"Good. Mom sends her well wishes but she it was her first day back at work so she had to go," Maureen said.

"Good to hear she's back at work. I'm glad she's doing better," Olivia smiled.

"We are too," Dickie nodded. It turned out that Kathy's thyroid was enlarged because of a non-cancerous tumor and that she was in fact going into menopause early. The doctors worked to get everything settled but it took a couple of months to get everything resolved between the surgery, recovery, and new medications that she would need to be taking for a while. During that time, Olivia had helped out as much as she could and eventually Kathy had apologized to her for everything. She'd told her partner's former wife that she understood and that there were no hard feelings. Since then things between them had improved.

"Who ordered the onions?" Lizzie made a face, effectively changing the subject.

"They're only on half of the pizza," Elliot pointed out.

"Still gross," the youngest said.

"So they gave that guy you were chasing the death penalty," Maureen switched the topic to what she'd seen on the news earlier in the day.

"They did but he refused to admit his part in the crimes he committed here so ADA Novak is going to try him here," her father explained.

"Does that mean you'll have to go to court Livvy?" Lizzie asked.

"Probably," Olivia nodded.

"Does that make you nervous?" Dickie wanted to know.

"I've testified so many times at trials, I don't think it'll be a problem," she gave him a wink.

"Well we're glad you're ok and at least the guy won't be getting out of jail anytime soon," Maureen said. Olivia noticed that the older girl had a concerned look on her face. Maureen was old enough to understand what had been going on thanks to the extensive press coverage and the detective understood her concern. No one would want to meet Robbie Alvarez in a dark alley.

"I appreciate it. You guys have a lot of homework to do?" Again Olivia changed the subject.

"Ugh," Dickie groaned.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Elliot gave him a look. The girls laughed. They enjoyed dinner and then cleaned up. Given that it was a school night, Elliot ushered them all out to the car and drove them back to their mother's place. It left Olivia alone for a little while, though Elliot promised to be back as quickly as possible.

It was then that it struck her as she sat down on the couch. The apartment was too quiet. She'd gotten used to the silence that living alone brought but now that she'd had Elliot take care of her during her recovery and had been running all over to help with the kids, the silence she once longed for was scary.

It had been quite the conundrum before. The silence allowed her to clear her head and refocus after the day's events and it was welcomed after the hustle and bustle of the precinct. It also was a constant reminder that she had no one in her life, not even a pet to come home to. At times the loneliness was overwhelming, which was part of the reason she threw herself into her work so much. If her brain was preoccupied then she wouldn't have time to think about it. Never mind the fact that the job was part of the reason she was alone. Men were either too interested in what she was doing or completely disgusted. The simple fact was though that she couldn't see herself doing anything else. The victims were more important than any self-loathing or self-doubt. They needed someone to speak up, to defend them, to pick up the pieces, and that was all that mattered.

"I caught you thinking again. What'd I tell you about that?" Elliot teased. She practically jumped out of her skin. She hadn't even heard him come in.

"You know you never returned that copy of my keys," Olivia pointed out.

"Figured I could put them to good use," he chuckled, sitting down next to her.

"Oh yeah?" She gave him a look, one that told him she was jerking his chain.

"We've been dancing around for eight years and we've been through some crazy stuff. I think we've earned the ability to move as we choose. There isn't much we don't know about each other," Elliot pointed out.

"We are on our third date," Olivia said as if that was a valid reason or well the magazine in the doctor's office waiting room said so. He laughed.

"You're easy to please. Dinner with the kids as date number three?" He asked.

"Oh I think you'll find I'm a little harder to please than that," it was her turn to laugh as she hoisted herself off the couch. Elliot watched her hips sway down the hall toward her bedroom door.

"You coming?" She asked, looking over her shoulder. He licked his lips as he watched her go through the doorway. He was off the couch like a shot.

"Why Detective Benson, you're being quite naughty," Elliot said, his arms snaking around her midsection from behind.

"You have no idea," Olivia teased. They disappeared into the bedroom knowing that there was no going back and not caring.

**THE END**


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